


The Game

by ImagoBeginsAgain



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College, F/M, Seven Minutes In Heaven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:59:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4295088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImagoBeginsAgain/pseuds/ImagoBeginsAgain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody ever admitted anything about The Game, and when you thought about it, that was part of its charm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Game

Katniss sat on the floor, cross-legged, and looked around the circle with affection. There was Darius, his hand on Gale’s shoulder. Madge playing with Annie’s hair. Peeta right next to Katniss, her knee against his thigh. The conversation was about upcoming movies, but Katniss spaced out for a bit, trying again to remember where it had all started.

You’d think it would be the easiest thing in the world to figure out who convinced them all to not only play Seven Minutes in Heaven, but to play it nearly every time the group got together, but nobody would ever admit to it. Katniss was pretty sure it was Johanna, who’d moved into town in eighth grade and brought their little kids’ bicycle gang to a whole new hormone-fueled level. But Gale swore that he remembered Beetee starting it, hoping to end up in the closet with Madge, months before Johanna appeared on the scene.

Nobody ever admitted anything about The Game, and when you thought about it, that was part of the charm. Whatever happened in the closet stayed in the closet, a delicious secret between two people. And Katniss damn well wasn’t planning on admitting to her new friends from the community college that she participated in a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven that had run years longer than most and, if you were being honest about it, was probably at least part of the reason she had a tight clique of childhood friends that still hung out after more than a year of college. Nor was she going to admit that it was responsible for the fact that she knew what kissing each of those friends was like.

Well, almost all of them. She knocked her knee against Peeta’s thigh and he smiled a sunny smile at her. Her best friend. It was so good to have him home, if only for a couple of days. Her BEST friend, since she sang in class on the first day of kindergarten and some of the kids were mean about it but he’d acted like she’d just done a back flip off of the high dive. Her best friend, whose shoulders kept getting broader but who would still bring her cupcakes on any excuse whatsoever just like he did when they were eleven.

It had been years since they’d ended up in the closet together, and she’s pretty sure it’s because she always sits next to him. Which is totally a good thing, right, because kissing her best friend would be WEIRD. The few times they’d spent in the closet had been awkward and bizarre for reasons she didn’t understand, even though they’d only touched each other’s cheeks and told each other how special they were.

Which was considered a fair move. That was the only rule of The Game: it was supposed to be helpful, not harmful. Don’t do anything you or your partner in crime would regret. She’s pretty sure that Gale has only ever played Compliments in the Closet since he and Madge started dating a couple of years ago. And the last time the spinner had picked her and Finnick together, only a month or two ago, he’d kissed her on the forehead and then the nose and told her that he hoped she’d get whatever she wanted because she deserved it and he was looking forward to cheering her on. She’s not quite sure what he meant by that, but she’d appreciated his intuitiveness, because although he was a fantastic kisser, she just hadn’t been in the mood to tap that lately.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the ding of the timer, and the group started softly counting down the final 30 seconds. Johanna and Finnick came out, hair mussed, matching gleams in their eyes. Katniss was pretty sure they did a hell of a lot more than exchange compliments. But she’s also quite sure that Johanna, bluntly loyal to a fault, had negotiated with her college boyfriend in advance what was likely to happen. He’s a lecturer and older than Johanna, and it’s not like she would stand for the jealous type. They probably had a closets exception. Whatever, it’s not like Katniss really wanted to know.

Katniss looked up from her speculation at the “oohs” as the spinner came to rest pointing directly at her. She must have missed the first spin, because Johanna was looking wickedly delighted, and wasn’t moving to spin again. And suddenly Peeta was getting up and offering her hand to help her off the floor.

Fuck! This is bad, this is so bad, this is friendship-ruining bad. But she’s accidentally gotten between a mama bear and her cubs before while hunting; she knows how to fake bravery. The trick is never letting the panic hit your eyes. So she smiles to the rest of the group and lets Peeta lead her into the closet.

He pulls the cord to turn on the light. HIs face is practically glowing. She can’t remember when she’s seen him this excited, and she can’t fathom the cause in her panic. Maybe he wants to tell her a secret. Maybe he got a new girlfriend at college and, having made his way back to town approximately five minutes before the gang converged on Madge’s parents huge and empty house, wanted to tell her in person and in private. He cups her face in his hands, and she relaxes just a bit — they touched each others faces the last time they played secrets in the closet.

“Going away to college really clarifies your thoughts about home”, Peeta says cryptically. She tries to process that, or even just figure out what he means, but he leans in closer, much too close for talking. She can feel his breath in little puffs on her lips as he says, “You can say no, of course you can say no, but I really want to kiss you and I swear it won’t ruin anything.”

The panic was back at double force. Oh, God, what if she doesn’t feel anything? What if she does, and he doesn’t? But through the panic, the thought that wins is: her best friend. She can handle awkwardness, and he swears it won’t ruin anything. So she nods once, firmly, though she’s not so sure that she’s still keeping the panic out of her face.

He leans closer yet, and brushes his lips against hers. She’s frozen in place, eyes suddenly closed, but she feels a tingle in her lips, like a little electric shock. He’s moving his lips over hers now, gently. She doesn’t know what to do with her hands. She feels his tongue on her lips and spares a brief thought about Finnick’s excellent kissing technique before opening her eyes and seeing Peeta’s cornflower blue ones right there, so close. Her best friend, she thinks, and a wave of feelings well up from the bit of her stomach, moving up her body, to completely short-circuit her brain. Her hands, previously immobile, are suddenly in his hair and she doesn’t know how they got there, doesn’t care, doesn’t care about anything except kissing him, his tongue on hers.

He breaks away just long enough to say “oh, KATNISS” and she tugs him back to her lips by his hair. He’s making little moaning sounds in his throat, and she’s so pleased that she’s doing that to him. His hands move down down to roam over first her back and then her ass, and she breaks the kiss and puts her hands on his shoulders to hop up and twine her legs around his waist. Peeta groans, “oh, God, Katniss” and presses her back to the wall, his hands firmly supporting her ass. She can feel his erection between her legs and she grinds against him. She may have never done this before, and she knows that the pressure she feels through the fabric of both of their jeans is nowhere near enough to get her off, but it feels sooooo good. She’s nibbling his earlobe and he’s reduced to rhythmic “oh… oh.. OH”s and somewhere in there with her whole body feeling like it’s on fire she also feels pride that she’s reduced her baker boy to inarticulate sounds.

It’s several minutes more before he pulls away a bit and gathers the wherewithal to say “Katniss, Katniss, we’ve got to calm down a little.”

Her wits slowly seep back to somewhere she can access them, and she nods. It can’t be that long until the timer rings, and she’s not ready to share these feelings with anyone not in this room, she’s not so sure she can even share them with HIM but it’s the only reasonable course of action so she’ll figure out how to do it. So as her pulse and breathing settle down a bit, she says, “Why didn’t we do that earlier? Why didn’t I KNOW?”

“Too scared,” Peeta replies. “At least, that’s my excuse. Sex was scary and losing you was scary and the idea of both of them together was impossible to imagine. But sex isn’t so scary now. Losing you is still fucking terrifying, but I was positive I could talk you out of embarrassment and back to friendship if it didn’t work for you.”

“You knew it was going to work for you?” she asked. She always thought he’d be right there with her about how awkward the idea of the two of them in the closet was.

“Katniss, I’ve known since kindergarten it was going to work for me.”

She brushes his curls out of his eyes as she considers the magnitude of that statement. His hair is soaked, but there is nothing she can really do about that.

“Let me take you to your house tonight?” The startle must have shown in her face, because he quickly adds, “er, not like that. Just alone together and being able to kiss you.” It’s a good idea. She’s an adult now; Prim and mom were used to seeing Peeta hang out in her room; and unlike how Peeta’s mom feels about her, her family loves Peeta. The thought of seeing him reclining on her comforter and looking up at her makes her stomach tighten in a way that is perhaps a bit too exciting, like the moment the roller coaster takes off, but the memories of him having lain there in the same way after school at age six, at twelve, at sixteen are actually really comforting. She smiles and nods firmly.

“Let me take you home SOON?” he begs, and she can’t leave him sounding so vulnerable about something that sounds so tempting to her so she responds “hell yes” and his smile could power cities but is all for her.

The timer dings and they can hear their friends counting down. He helps smooth her shirt and hair, she straightens his collar. As he opens the door, he leans over and whispers, “I’m so glad I had Johanna rig the spinning” so that she smacks him just as they exit the closet. But it doesn’t seem to fool their friends, who to a one ignore the usual taboo on commenting and applaud.


End file.
